School believes program on right track so coach considered vulnerable will be back

Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips normally takes up to three weeks to evaluate his coaches. But with rumors swirling about Bill Carmody's possible replacements, that was not possible this year.

Phillips ended his five-day review Thursday when he announced Carmody will return for a 13th season.

That will infuriate fans who wanted fresh blood and please those who laud Carmody for making a dismal program competitive.

"I know that half the population will be disappointed or upset," Phillips said. "And maybe half will be excited. I know what the outside world was saying.

"We had another very, very solid season and we're on the right track. But I want to be perfectly clear that no one is satisfied."

Carmody said he was "disappointed" with how the season ended — an ugly setback at Washington in the NIT two games after an NCAA bubble-bursting loss to Minnesota in the Big Ten tournament. But he also said that "all aspects of the program have improved — and drastically" on his watch.

Carmody, 60, said the media had it wrong in saying his contract runs through the 2012-13 season.

It contains more years, but Carmody declined to say how many: "I feel comfortable telling recruits that I intend to be here for a long time."

Given that the Wildcats went 0-3 in overtime games and lost at home to Illinois, Purdue and Ohio State at the buzzer, Carmody pledged to improve in late-game situations. He believes his players were gassed from logging too many minutes.

"It goes back to recruiting," he said. "Getting enough players. … (And) I personally have to improve how we get shots with 6-10 seconds left."

NU's other major problem was on the boards. The Wildcats finished minus-6.6 in rebounding margin; the next worse Big Ten team, Nebraska, was minus-1.0.

Carmody said that will be addressed by 6-foot-8 TCU transfer Nikola Cerina, who he calls "the best athlete on the team," and the pending commitment of 6-10 Alex Olah of Traders Christian Point Academy in Whitestown, Ind.

Carmody said he expects his top recruiter, Tavaras Hardy, to return despite reportedly having interviewed for the Southern Illinois job.

Carmody talked about making a push for Chicago-area players. The Wildcats reportedly are interested in Proviso East's Sterling Brown (Shannon's brother), Simeon's Jaylon Tate and De La Salle's Alvin Ellis. PurpleWildcats.com reported that four-star point guard Jaren Sina of New Jersey will visit this weekend.

In a statement the school released, Carmody said "there are no significant barriers" to NU's success.

"But there are challenges here," he said on a teleconference.

Those would include, notably, rigorous admissions standards and the worst facilities in the Big Ten.

Phillips said he hopes to reveal the school's new facilities plan before fall but that it's in the hands of NU's Board of Trustees. Northwestern will consider playing one season at Loyola while a new basketball arena is constructed.

Phillips, who met with players before deciding Carmody's fate, could have hit the reset button in the program's quest for a first-ever NCAA tournament bid and probably hired a basketball version of Pat Fitzgerald in Duke associate head coach Chris Collins.

Instead he said he "dissected" every aspect of NU's program and "tried to stay true to NU's values."

Those include the academic performance of players and NCAA compliance.